UAlbany Stuns No. 15 Campbell 45-35 as Defense Scores Twice in Halloween Shootout

Campbell came to Albany with the second-best passing offense in the FCS, a five-game winning streak and a clean CAA record. It left having learned what a lot of teams have figured out this month: UAlbany does not need you to make mistakes, but it will absolutely punish every one of them.

UAlbany beat Campbell 45-35 on Saturday, Oct. 31, at Bob Ford Field. The Great Danes scored two defensive touchdowns, Shawan Lewis sacked Kamden Sixkiller and backup Grayson Harvey a combined 3.5 times, and Rahshan La Mons broke a 63-yard touchdown run in a first quarter that put the visitors in a hole they never fully escaped.

UAlbany, ranked 25th in the AFCA Coaches Poll, improved to 6-3 overall and 4-1 in the CAA with its fourth straight win. Campbell, ranked 15th by the coaches and 12th by Stats Perform, fell to 7-2 and 4-1. It was the Camels' first loss to an FCS opponent this season.

The defense scores first

The first touchdown of the day did not come from either offense. Less than five minutes in, Campbell put the ball on the ground and Dillon Dunathan scooped it up and ran 77 yards for a UAlbany touchdown. The home crowd, already handed a Halloween rally towel at the gate, got to use it early.

Campbell answered the way a top-15 team should. JJ Cowan capped an eight-play, 85-yard drive with a 1-yard run at 6:21, and it was 7-7. Then the first quarter got away from the Camels in a hurry. Lewis sacked Harvey and forced a fumble that Jamari Young recovered, and four plays later quarterback Kai Colón ran it in from 14 yards out. On the next UAlbany possession, La Mons took a handoff and went 63 yards to make it 21-7 with 52 seconds left in the quarter.

Two of UAlbany's three first-quarter touchdowns came directly off Campbell turnovers. That is how a ranked team ends up chasing on the road.

Sixkiller keeps throwing punches

To Campbell's credit, it never stopped swinging. Sixkiller hit Aaryn Tate for a 40-yard touchdown at 12:13 of the second quarter, and it was 21-14. UAlbany responded with a seven-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Colón finding Daniel Growney from 24 yards out. Brayden Heitmeyer added a 44-yard field goal at the end of a 14-play, 5:54 drive, and the Great Danes led 31-14.

Campbell got one back before the half. Cowan's second 1-yard touchdown came with 22 seconds left, capping an 11-play, 75-yard drive that took only 1:15, and it was 31-21 at the break.

The turning point

The third quarter was where Campbell had its best opening. AJ Benton intercepted Colón at the Campbell 12 at 7:16, stopping a UAlbany drive that could have pushed the lead to three scores. The Camels had the ball, the momentum and a chance to make it a one-score game.

Three plays later, it was gone. Young stepped in front of a Sixkiller throw and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown at 6:31. A potential 31-28 game turned into 38-21, and Young had a fumble recovery and a pick six on the same afternoon. For the linebacker who was named CAA Defensive Player of the Week after three sacks against Rhode Island, it was another loud Saturday.

Campbell's last charge

Campbell would not go away. Sixkiller led a 10-play, 72-yard drive and found Chinua Ezeigbo for a 27-yard touchdown at 1:35 of the third quarter. Early in the fourth, K. Williams sacked Colón and recovered the fumble, and Cowan needed one snap to go 41 yards for a third touchdown of the day. It was 38-35 with 13:13 left.

The Camels even got a stop on fourth-and-1, when La Mons was held short at the UAlbany 44 with 9:52 to go. But Campbell could not turn that field position into points, and the game came down to one more fourth-and-1. With under two minutes left, Campbell went for it at its own 17 and Jon Gullette was stopped. On the very next snap, Colón threw a 16-yard touchdown to BJ Norman with 1:52 remaining. Lewis then sacked Sixkiller one final time, and UAlbany took over on downs to run out the clock.

The players who decided it

Lewis was the most disruptive player on the field. The UAlbany defensive lineman finished with seven tackles and 3.5 sacks, all for loss, and came into the game with five sacks on the season. Young had the pick six and the fumble recovery. Donny Jones and Jeremiah Pruitt each made seven tackles, with Pruitt adding two tackles for loss.

On offense, La Mons ran 14 times for 119 yards and the long touchdown. The Susquehanna transfer, who ran for 196 yards and three scores against Rhode Island a week earlier, has now given UAlbany a home run threat every time La Mons touches it. Colón completed 15 of 28 passes for 214 yards with two touchdowns and an interception and added the rushing score. Norman caught eight passes for 99 yards.

For Campbell, Cowan ran 11 times for 97 yards and three touchdowns. Sixkiller completed 27 of 44 passes for 271 yards with two touchdowns and the costly interception, a week after throwing for a school-record 450 yards at Maine. Ezeigbo had seven catches for 110 yards and a score, and Tate caught four for 64. Benton had the interception, and Ebenezer Bedada recorded a sack.

The numbers that matter

Campbell actually outgained UAlbany 406-389 and threw for 324 yards as a team. It did not matter. The Camels lost two fumbles and threw a pick six, and UAlbany turned those three turnovers into 21 points, two of them without the offense on the field. The Great Danes were also better on third down, converting 7 of 12, and held the ball for 33 minutes.

The pass rush was the other story. UAlbany came in with 21 sacks through eight games and the plan was obvious: get to Sixkiller. Lewis did much of that alone, and Campbell's ground game managed just 82 yards on 23 carries, leaving the offense one dimensional for long stretches. The full numbers are in the box score (opens in a new tab).

What it means

This is the biggest win yet in Tom Perkovich's first season. UAlbany went 2-10 last year, started this season 2-3 and lost 22-0 to Princeton along the way. Since then, the Great Danes have beaten Stony Brook, ended defending champion Rhode Island's 17-game home winning streak, and now knocked off a ranked Campbell team that had not lost to an FCS opponent all year. At 4-1 in the league, UAlbany is a real contender for the CAA's automatic bid.

For Campbell, the loss stings because of what it does to the math. The Camels were chasing the program's first FCS playoff berth and a perfect league run, and now they are 4-1 with Stony Brook, Elon and Monmouth still to come, including the Monmouth game on Nov. 21. Monmouth entered the weekend at 5-0 in league play. Braxton Harris' team still controls a lot, but the margin for error is gone.

The last word

Campbell scored 35 points on the road against a ranked team and lost by 10. That tells you everything about how this game was decided. UAlbany did not outgain the Camels and did not win the passing game. It won the turnover battle, scored on defense twice and made the big play every time Campbell crept close.

That is what a team on a four-game winning streak looks like in late October. On Halloween, the scariest thing in Albany was a UAlbany defense that kept showing up in the end zone.

Sources: ESPN box score, play-by-play and team stats, FloFootball, BVM Sports and earlier Undrafted coverage. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Bruce Dudek / UAlbany Athletics.